Lady Gaga’s love affair with fashion continued on Monday night in Los Angeles at the Elle Women in Hollywood event. The star has been known to dress in imaginative ensembles and dramatic gowns — partly as a form of armor. But this time, she used what she wore as a tool to say something far more vulnerable.

Dressing in an oversized Marc Jacobs menswear-inspired suit and her signature extreme platform heels, Lady Gaga took the stage as one the night’s honorees. There, she delivered an emotional speech about a woman’s strength and power — and what she was wearing inspired the moment.

She said onstage: “I tried on dress after dress today getting ready for this event … to be honest, I felt sick to my stomach. And I asked myself, ‘What does it really mean to be a woman in Hollywood?’ We are not just objects to entertain the world. We are not simply images to bring smiles or grimaces to people’s faces. We are not members of a giant beauty pageant meant to be pit against one another for the pleasure of the public. We women in Hollywood, we are voices. We have deep thoughts and ideas and beliefs and values about the world, and we have the power to speak and be heard and fight back when we are silenced.”

Lady Gaga posing in a Marc Jacobs oversized suit at the <em>Elle</em> Women in Hollywood event.

CREDIT: Shutterstock

Gaga said that after trying 10 dresses, her Marc Jacobs choice caused much confusion to those in the room, but then it all made sense.

She continued, “This was an oversized men’s suit made for a woman. Not a gown. And then I began to cry. In this suit, I felt like me today. In this suit, I felt the truth of who I am well up in my gut. And then wondering what I wanted to say tonight become very clear to me. As a sexual assault survivor by someone in the entertainment industry, as a woman who is still not brave enough to say his name, as a woman who lives with chronic pain, as a woman who was conditioned at a very young age to listen to what men told me to do, I decided today I wanted to take the power back. Today I wear the pants.”